More Trivia - Better Prizes

[yogimax]

This thread is written in the hope that RCCL monitors this board for suggestions to improve the cruising experience.

 

We really enjoy participating in trivia. It's fun, you learn a little, and you get to meet other cruisers and interact with the activities staff.

 

So why not have more trivia on the ship? It's a relatively painless way for RCCL to increase their activities and make for a more enjoyable experience.

 

At the same time, the prizes for winning need to be upgraded. You could have 50 people participating and the two or four winners would each receive a pen, keychain or luggage tag. C'mon RCCL, you can do a little better than that. Carnival offers their "ship on a stick." A butt of jokes, sure, but also a nicer souvenir than a pen. NCL offers points which can be redeemed for t-shirts or other nicer prizes.

 

Here's a plea for RCCL to upgrade their trivia experience with more trivia and better prizes!

[Clarea]

This thread is written in the hope that RCCL monitors this board for suggestions to improve the cruising experience.

 

We really enjoy participating in trivia. It's fun, you learn a little, and you get to meet other cruisers and interact with the activities staff.

 

So why not have more trivia on the ship? It's a relatively painless way for RCCL to increase their activities and make for a more enjoyable experience.

 

At the same time, the prizes for winning need to be upgraded. You could have 50 people participating and the two or four winners would each receive a pen, keychain or luggage tag. C'mon RCCL, you can do a little better than that. Carnival offers their "ship on a stick." A butt of jokes, sure, but also a nicer souvenir than a pen. NCL offers points which can be redeemed for t-shirts or other nicer prizes.

 

Here's a plea for RCCL to upgrade their trivia experience with more trivia and better prizes!

Agree with you 100%. A few years ago, they would have prizes such as umbrellas, fanny packs, etc. Now, like you say, it's mostly keychains. If you're lucky, maybe a luggage tag, but even those are becoming rare.

[bilyclub]

The problem with the trivia, is the very,very, frequent cruisers have heard all the questions and know what the answers are. They then easily win. Royal instead of researching new questions decided to give out cheaper trinkets.

[Puffinater]

The problem with the trivia, is the very,very, frequent cruisers have heard all the questions and know what the answers are. They then easily win. Royal instead of researching new questions decided to give out cheaper trinkets.

 

Very true. On one cruise (Mariner) while in the CL we heard the following.

 

So did you win trivia?

 

Sure did but almost lost. Can you believe they changed some of the questions?

 

On our last Oasis cruise the activities person recognized a couple people after a couple questions and actually mentioned it and said she would be reading a new set of questions.

 

Motivated by key chains?

Edited July 21, 2011 by Puffinater

[pmfan]

Instead of trivia, how about bringing back shipshape? ;) I loved the variety of activities they had for this, something for everyone.

Please RC bring back this popular activity! :)

[wingnutphl]

Last year on the Serenade, they had lots of trivia. At least 2 sessions a day with decent prizes - hats, insulated mugs, memo pads and of course the key chains, pens and such.

[yogimax]

The problem with the trivia, is the very,very, frequent cruisers have heard all the questions and know what the answers are. They then easily win. Royal instead of researching new questions decided to give out cheaper trinkets.

 

As you say, this can be easily resolved. There are literally hundreds of internet sites that offer trivia. It doesn't take much effort to come up with new questions. It's just a matter of doing a little bit of work instead of using the same questions over and over.

[negc]

Instead of trivia, how about bringing back shipshape? ;) I loved the variety of activities they had for this, something for everyone.

 

Please RC bring back this popular activity! :)

I totally agree and would appreciate the restoration of the shipshape program. Our recent cruises have seemed to have more than enough trivia cruises and despite the dearth of prizes of any discernible value, the competition was often quite intense and, to my mind at least, far out of proportion, to the prizes involved. Perhaps they should adopt CD Joff Eaton's progressive trivia policy of awarding a single RCI key ring to the winning team, that's right: one key ring, so that the games become more fun than cut throat with constant challenges about the "correct" answers to questions. It is supposed to be "fun" folks and increasing the value of the prizes might only serve to increase the intensity of the competition without increasing the fun. Just MO.:)

[emilygrace]

The funny thing about them using the same trivia questions year after year (and on all the ships) is that if "their" answer is wrong, it stays wrong. We participated in one Name That Tune trivia and one of their answers was wrong (right song name, wrong artist) and EVERYONE playing told them this but the person running the trivia said sorry, that's the answer from corporate. The following year we were on a different ship and the same thing happened when this song was played and they still had the wrong answer! It irked DH to put down the wrong answer in order to get it right!

 

And I totally agree on bringing back the ShipShape program. It was a lot of fun and I'll admit I participated in a lot of activities I probably wouldn't have without that motivation.

[Tucker in Texas]

Celebrity had pretty decent prizes--visors, card holding lanyards, t-shirts, photo albums, etc. After winning one more than once (since both DH and I were on the team we got two), we would give them away. The smile on the little girl's face that we gave a t-shirt to was better than the "bragging rights" any day.

 

What would get me is that sometimes the same set of questions would come out. We'd quickly speak up that we had had that quiz before after three questions and no one else saying anything. Some people did not appreciate our "honesty" and let us know it. Like we wouldn't have answered every question right, too?

 

Tucker in Texas

[negc]

What would get me is that sometimes the same set of questions would come out. We'd quickly speak up that we had had that quiz before after three questions and no one else saying anything. Some people did not appreciate our "honesty" and let us know it. Like we wouldn't have answered every question right, too?

 

Tucker in Texas

That's what I mean about some people being overly competitive. It is supposed to be fun and not primarily about "winning". If people don't appreciate your honesty when fairly nominal prizes are involved, how would they react if they were playing for more serious prizes.:rolleyes:

[mjldvlks]

On our recent cruises, I heard relatively few trivia questions I had heard before. Some overlap is probably inevitable. It is amazing how ofte I hear a question on the early Jeopardy on our local station [usually a rerun about a year old] and then hear a very similar question in the second show [the current season].

 

In our most recent Radiance cruise, the CD ran progressive personally and had a personal source for every answer. If you challenge one of his answers, you have to ahve a scource and if you lose the challenge, your score is docked double. We have started giving away our prizes as well. It's about the fun and "friendly" competition.

 

Went to trivia on our one and only Celebrity cruise -- lame city.

Edited July 21, 2011 by mjldvlks

[carolv712]

I agree more trivia, win lose or draw, pictionary etc. We enjoy them. We also miss the ship shape program. Bring it back. My T-shirts are getting too worn out. LOL

[Robert & Debra]

I enjoy the trivia and would like to see more of it as well. I would go play even if they had no prizes.

[EmJakeBubbie]

I'd like to see some kind of competition where daily Trivia Winners would be entered into an end-of-cruise Jeopardy-styled Competition. The Team Captain of the Trivia games would be the one who would participate in the end of cruise competition with a Nice Gift for the effort.

Worth a try for something new?

[PH8]

Personally,I dont care about the prizes......more stuff to store,but I agree about changing questions..........have cruised with some (Pinnacle PLUS!!;)) who do b2b2b2b and of course,know the answers.....they win and gloat about it.....

[yogimax]

I enjoy the trivia and would like to see more of it as well.

 

Yes, that's precisely the main point of this thread.:)

[mjldvlks]

Can we get sessions on military history?

[Oscar_the_Grouch's_Sis]

At the same time, the prizes for winning need to be upgraded. You could have 50 people participating and the two or four winners would each receive a pen, keychain or luggage tag. C'mon RCCL, you can do a little better than that. Carnival offers their "ship on a stick." A butt of jokes, sure, but also a nicer souvenir than a pen. NCL offers points which can be redeemed for t-shirts or other nicer prizes.

 

Here's a plea for RCCL to upgrade their trivia experience with more trivia and better prizes!

 

Carnival also has bottles of champagne as a prize :D

 

I sailed Carnival Spirit May of last year and played the "Pub Style Trivia" every night after dinner. I won a bottle of champagne every night except one :cool: ... funny thing, I hardly drink. I got to share with my table-mates and gave some away. I did also win a few "ship on a stick" from other trivia contests.

 

I've been sharpening my trivia skills for my upcoming cruise ... I understand what you are saying, but it isn't so much about the prizes. It is just about knowing you are smarter than everyone else ;) JUST KIDDING! I do enjoy it a lot. It is fun ... and a pen isn't such a bad souvenir

Edited July 21, 2011 by Oscar_the_Grouch's_Sis

[erbunny]

I can't believe anyone would play just to get a prize. I love trivia, and haven't been on enough cruises to encounter the repeats, but this would certainly be an easy fix.

 

BTW, what is shipshape ? Sounds like it was pretty popular. I have also seen some demand for tehreturn of horse races. I think the more variety , the better.

 

One suggestion would be an ongoing, cruise length trivia tournament, with real prizes, based on one's accumulated points. Or a combined trivia/scavenger hunt. Whatever, there are lots of innovations which could be made.

[negc]

I can't believe anyone would play just to get a prize. I love trivia, and haven't been on enough cruises to encounter the repeats, but this would certainly be an easy fix.

 

BTW, what is shipshape ? Sounds like it was pretty popular. I have also seen some demand for tehreturn of horse races. I think the more variety , the better.

 

One suggestion would be an ongoing, cruise length trivia tournament, with real prizes, based on one's accumulated points. Or a combined trivia/scavenger hunt. Whatever, there are lots of innovations which could be made.

On longer cruises at least, they already offer a progressive trivial that pretty much fits your description but without the "real prizes". You might be surprised at the competitive nature of some trivia players who believe that winning is "the only thing" even when the prize for doing so is something rather trivial.

Shipshape was an exercise program where participants could earn "Ship Shape dollars" for participating in various free exercise programs such as morning stretching classes, mile walks etc. Towards the end of the cruise they could trade in those dollars for T shirts, sun visors, and fanny packs, and other assorted items. It was discontinued a few years back.

[Merion_Mom]

On longer cruises at least, they already offer a progressive trivial that pretty much fits your description but without the "real prizes". You might be surprised at the competitive nature of some trivia players who believe that winning is "the only thing" even when the prize for doing so is something rather trivial.

Shipshape was an exercise program where participants could earn "Ship Shape dollars" for participating in various free exercise programs such as morning stretching classes, mile walks etc. Towards the end of the cruise they could trade in those dollars for T shirts, sun visors, and fanny packs, and other assorted items. It was discontinued a few years back.

 

They even do progressive trivia on shorter cruises! It's very odd, IMO.

 

Here's the BEST TRIVIA THREAD EVER, started by me, of course, last year..................http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1328741 ;)

[Tucker in Texas]

 

In our most recent Radiance cruise, the CD ran progressive personally and had a personal source for every answer. If you challenge one of his answers, you have to ahve a scource and if you lose the challenge, your score is docked double. We have started giving away our prizes as well. It's about the fun and "friendly" competition.

.

 

One question that has come up a few times is "What is the name of the horse in Jingle Bells?"

 

Some people say "Bob" others say "Bobtail." Argument arises from those that have Bob that Bobtails shouldn't count. Vice versa with Bobtail answer. I can't remember what is on the answer sheet. Personally, I felt like bobtail was just a description of the horses tail but couldn't figure out how jingle bells fit on it since the tail was bobbed.

 

So, when I got home, I asked my co-workers at the thrift shop I volunteer at. The granddaughter (16 but very bright) of one of them who was doing summer volunteer work pipes up "The horse has no name, and it is not bobtail." She said she read it in a book called "Words you thought you knew." So I came home and googled a bit to find the song was written in 18xx and read the original lyrics. Bobtail was lowercase "b" and a hyphen between bob and tail--bob-tail. That tells me it isn't the name of the horse. I plan to go to the library and see if I can pull the book the granddaugther refered to because I have no doubt it will come up again.

 

I like the docking scores if you are wrong. Note to self: Take bob-tail proof with me (lol)

 

Then we have the never ending conflict over "What vegetable has the most calories." Answer: Avocado according to the answer sheet the guy had. Big argument--Avocado is a fruit. O.K. file that away. Another quiz, same ship, different host. "What fruit has the most calories?" Banana? We know it isn't avocado. Nope, his sheet said avocado. This became a running joke the rest of the cruise. The last day on the progressive quiz with even a different host, the first question was "What is the main ingredient of guacamole?" Needless to say, we all were practically rolling on the floor laughing. Poor host couldn't figure out why. Webster's says it is a fruit.

 

Their answer sheets do have errors in them. Did you know that Gibraltar was a country? That came up in what are the two smallest countries in the world. Vatican is one and most put Monaco down for the other although Angora crossed our minds. Good news is no one had Gibraltar so it was a wash.

 

Tucker in Texas

[Merion_Mom]

One question that has come up a few times is "What is the name of the horse in Jingle Bells?"

 

Some people say "Bob" others say "Bobtail." Argument arises from those that have Bob that Bobtails shouldn't count. Vice versa with Bobtail answer. I can't remember what is on the answer sheet. Personally, I felt like bobtail was just a description of the horses tail but couldn't figure out how jingle bells fit on it since the tail was bobbed.

 

So, when I got home, I asked my co-workers at the thrift shop I volunteer at. The granddaughter (16 but very bright) of one of them who was doing summer volunteer work pipes up "The horse has no name, and it is not bobtail." She said she read it in a book called "Words you thought you knew." So I came home and googled a bit to find the song was written in 18xx and read the original lyrics. Bobtail was lowercase "b" and a hyphen between bob and tail--bob-tail. That tells me it isn't the name of the horse. I plan to go to the library and see if I can pull the book the granddaugther refered to because I have no doubt it will come up again.

 

I like the docking scores if you are wrong. Note to self: Take bob-tail proof with me (lol)

 

Then we have the never ending conflict over "What vegetable has the most calories." Answer: Avocado according to the answer sheet the guy had. Big argument--Avocado is a fruit. O.K. file that away. Another quiz, same ship, different host. "What fruit has the most calories?" Banana? We know it isn't avocado. Nope, his sheet said avocado. This became a running joke the rest of the cruise. The last day on the progressive quiz with even a different host, the first question was "What is the main ingredient of guacamole?" Needless to say, we all were practically rolling on the floor laughing. Poor host couldn't figure out why. Webster's says it is a fruit.

 

Their answer sheets do have errors in them. Did you know that Gibraltar was a country? That came up in what are the two smallest countries in the world. Vatican is one and most put Monaco down for the other although Angora crossed our minds. Good news is no one had Gibraltar so it was a wash.

 

Tucker in Texas

 

Not Angora. That's a region of Turkey.

 

You mean Andorra.

 

:)

[Merion_Mom]

One question that has come up a few times is "What is the name of the horse in Jingle Bells?"

 

Some people say "Bob" others say "Bobtail." Argument arises from those that have Bob that Bobtails shouldn't count. Vice versa with Bobtail answer. I can't remember what is on the answer sheet. Personally, I felt like bobtail was just a description of the horses tail but couldn't figure out how jingle bells fit on it since the tail was bobbed.

 

So, when I got home, I asked my co-workers at the thrift shop I volunteer at. The granddaughter (16 but very bright) of one of them who was doing summer volunteer work pipes up "The horse has no name, and it is not bobtail." She said she read it in a book called "Words you thought you knew." So I came home and googled a bit to find the song was written in 18xx and read the original lyrics. Bobtail was lowercase "b" and a hyphen between bob and tail--bob-tail. That tells me it isn't the name of the horse. I plan to go to the library and see if I can pull the book the granddaugther refered to because I have no doubt it will come up again.

 

I like the docking scores if you are wrong. Note to self: Take bob-tail proof with me (lol)

 

Then we have the never ending conflict over "What vegetable has the most calories." Answer: Avocado according to the answer sheet the guy had. Big argument--Avocado is a fruit. O.K. file that away. Another quiz, same ship, different host. "What fruit has the most calories?" Banana? We know it isn't avocado. Nope, his sheet said avocado. This became a running joke the rest of the cruise. The last day on the progressive quiz with even a different host, the first question was "What is the main ingredient of guacamole?" Needless to say, we all were practically rolling on the floor laughing. Poor host couldn't figure out why. Webster's says it is a fruit.

 

Their answer sheets do have errors in them. Did you know that Gibraltar was a country? That came up in what are the two smallest countries in the world. Vatican is one and most put Monaco down for the other although Angora crossed our minds. Good news is no one had Gibraltar so it was a wash.

 

Tucker in Texas

 

And do NOT get me started on errors.

 

One activities staffer was so excited. She had a "Royal Caribbean Trivia Quiz".

 

I was pretty jazzed myself. I knew that I would KILL at that.

 

The quiz was from TWO THOUSAND FIVE. Most of the answers were WRONG.

 

Because surprisingly enough, things have changed since 2005. Number of ships in the fleet, for instance. :rolleyes: